Guyatone LG-30

Guyatone was once a powerhouse of Japanese guitars. In the late 50s to the early 70s they made millions of guitars, both for the Japanese market and for export. This Mosrite-inspired LG-30 was made in the mid 60s. It was a 'beginners' model and although it was well made it was not without its quirks. The neck width is constant from the nut to the body- certain Silvertone and Harmony guitars of the 60s also had this characteristic. It means that the string spacing is rather narrow at the bridge, not the best for large hands. I bought it in pieces from eBay, it was missing the bridge, nut, pick-guard, pick-up, controls and tuners:



The narrowness of the string spacing made finding a workable bridge a bit of a challenge. I found a 70s era brass bridge that had never been notched. The long-tongue bolt-on neck also was a challenge, I had to get a very thin pickup (Guitar Fetish 'jazz' style) in order to make it fit:



A new pick guard and some basic wiring turned this into a pretty nice little guitar. The body was solid (plywood) and the D-shaped neck was in very good condition, certainly worth the $40 I paid for it.

I ended up redoing the pick guard in tortoise, and installed a pair of P-90 pickups with a custom wiring scheme:



It was sold in the Great Guitar Purge of 2019, I hope the new owner has as much fun with it as I did!